Chasing Colorado: (The Zombie Zovels #2) (10 page)

A minute later, someone tapped on one of the dusty windows. It was Evan waving at us to come in. Luke and Dan walked in through the old-fashioned, wooden door, followed by Josh and Stacey. Lane and I looked at each other skeptically, I was curious as to what was inside the little, old cottage. Lane had to actually duck down to get through the front door.

“I can't believe this place, it's so Morticia Addams.” Lena said, walking in behind us.

The ground level was an open layout. A small kitchen area with pots and pans hanging from the ceiling, and a table with two chairs. A tall glass cabinet sat against the back wall full of different size jars, I could see most of them were labeled and looked like herbs. On the other side of the cottage was the living room which had an old, dirty-looking fabric chair with a dusty blanket thrown over the back. Everything looked neat and organized, it definitely felt like a woman had lived in the cottage. I wandered around the kitchen looking at all the different jars on the window ledge, all full of herbs, and other ingredients. There was another cabinet beside the glass cabinet, I opened the two wooden doors and just stood there for a minute, staring at the random contents in the jars.

“Check the bathroom cabinet for medicine and medical supplies.” Josh said to Luke, and Luke jogged up the stairs.

“This place is actually giving me the heebie-jeebies.” I said, picking up a glass jar that had eyeballs inside, sloshing around in some misty liquid. “Who the hell lived here? Are these
human
eyeballs?” I asked.

Josh turned his lip up in disgust and quickly lifted the jar out of my hands.

“I don't know, but let's not touch that again, don't want to break the jar.” he said, carefully placing it back on the shelf.

Lane came over to my side and looked at the various jars. He looked as confused as I was over the disturbing contents of some of the jars.

“Yes 'cause the moment I drop it, the voodoo magic will be released into the world and bring forth an army of walking dead, oh wait, that already happened.” I said, smirking at Josh.

“Guys!” Luke said, running back down the crooked, wooden stairs. “There's, like, a tiny bed upstairs.”

“Tiny bed?” Lena said.

“Yeah, tiny bed, like, really tiny, maybe a dwarf or midget size bed... Am I allowed to say midget? What about tiny person or small person, or is that offensive?”

“Well, I don't know, does it offend a tall person when you say, oh, Alex, yeah, she's over there, by that
tall
person.” Josh said, and everyone turned around to look at Lane and me.

“Lane, are you offended?” Josh asked.

“Ha ha.” Lane said, and placed a jar back on the shelf.

I left Lane, Luke, and Josh discussing short and tall people, and wandered upstairs. Lena, Stacey, and Dan were sniffing herbs, and Evan was lost in the cupboard under the stairs.

At the top of the stairs, I found three oval, wooden doors. One led into a miniature bathroom, even the toilet looked miniature, the wooden beam ceiling was slanted and even at my height I had to tilt my head to get to the bathtub. The bathroom cabinet had nothing of interest, dried lavender and a bottle of tea tree oil. The second door was already open, inside was a small room with a sewing machine and materials, I didn't bother to look around, it all looked very neat and organized, but nothing that was useful to us. Not unless I wanted to take up knitting or volunteer to mend the holes in Drew's pants. The third door was ajar, I pushed it open and walked into the bedroom. The room consisted of two beds on opposite sides of the room, one standard size, single bed, and one very short bed, both neatly made, with patchwork throws hanging over the end of each bed. There was a small table with a black lace tablecloth, and a vase of dead, dry flowers on top. There was a single window with black nets hanging up, blocking the light. I walked over to the window and lifted the nets and tied them into a loose knot so the sunlight could filter into the room. Outside all I could see was trees.

I looked back around and walked over to the dresser, I opened the top drawer. It was full of black lace, and long, beaded necklaces neatly laid out. The second drawer had only one item of clothing inside, a black shawl that smelled musty, I left it where it was and opened the third drawer, which was empty.

I closed the drawer and thought I'd try the closet instead. I opened both doors and found what I could only describe as a pair of black wedding dresses hanging up. They were identical in length and detail. I shook my head, wondering who could have lived her before, maybe a strange widow that only wore black, or maybe a
short
person. Whoever lived here was long gone now. The last piece of furniture was a dressing table, with a wooden stool, tucked neatly underneath. The mirror had cobwebs trailing from the corners and up the walls. There was a colorful variety of perfume bottles, I picked one up and spritzed a small amount in the air, and sniffed.

Mmm.. Jasmine.

Then I went a little over the top and spritzed myself all over. There was a flat box laid out on top of the dresser. I leaned over and lifted the lid, inside was a single black feather, and four different pendants neatly placed in the box. One pendant had a little vial with something red inside. I didn't like to guess what the liquid was, it was red so I had some idea.

One was a locket which I couldn't open to see the picture inside. Another had a weird symbol on I had never seen before, and the last pendant was a glass domed, full moon pendant with a silver chain, the inside was all misty with greens and blacks. I picked it up and looked at it curiously as it dangled in the air. I had never seen anything like it before, it looked old and so unique. I held it up to my neck, admiring it in the mirror, it stood out against my pale skin... but there was something about it... I felt oddly drawn to the pendant.

I suddenly noticed another reflection in the mirror which made me jump and sent my heart pounding in my chest.

“Do you always lurk in doorways?” I asked, looking at him in the mirror as he leaned against the door-frame.

Drew didn't reply, and just stared at me in the mirror. I looked down at the box, wondering why he was staring at me like that, it was kinda creepy. There was a loud thud at the bottom of the stairs, followed by heavy footsteps clumping up the stairs, a few seconds later, Stacey pushed past Drew and into the bedroom, like a bull in a china shop.

“Excuse you.” Drew muttered, before jogging back down the stairs.

She walked straight over to me and peered over my shoulder.

“Ooooh pretty,” she said, taking (more like snatching) the pendant from me.

Within seconds, she had the thing undone and refastened around her neck.

“What do you think?” she asked, looking in the mirror.

I think it makes you look fat
... is what I was dying to say.

“Eww! Is that blood in that vial?”

“Probably.” I said, turning my back on her and leaving her on her own.

“Okay, this place is really freakin' me the fuck out. Can we please go now?” Luke said.

“Yeah, there's not much here anyway, just 'erbs and crystal ball shit.” Evan said, opening the front door to leave.

“Stacey, come on, we're leaving.” Josh called up the stairs.

We all formed a line and shuffled out through the door, one by one. Stacey bounced out the door a moment later, the full moon pendant still around her neck. I let it go and didn't bother to say anything. I wanted to rip it from her neck, but I knew realistically she was going to get more wear out of it than I was. I caught Drew eyeing her strangely, more like watching her, he had his eyes on the pendant, and he was looking at her with some sort of confused scowl.

I looked back at the creepy-witch-house, it was a shame we had to leave so soon, it would have been an all right place to stay for a while, cobwebs n' all.

We all split up and fought our way back through the vines until we made it out the other side. We were soon walking again... I had forgotten how boring walking was. We trekked back to the road and after one hour later of solid walking, I yawned, a little louder than I meant to, and Josh looked back at me.

“Hey, everyone, let's stop for a break,” he said.

“Already?” Luke queried, then he looked at me just as another yawn escaped my lips.

“Just five minutes, a quick drink to refuel and I'll be good to go.” I said, plopping down on the road (more like my legs caving under my weight).

Everyone gathered around but stayed in their groups.

“So... (
yawn
) ...tired.” I said.

Lane rubbed my shoulder and Josh dug out a protein bar for me.

“Eat this, and make sure you're drinking enough, it's easy to get dehydrated out here.”

“It's nearly lunchtime, can't we eat now?” Stacey asked.

“No, we've just stopped for a quick break, we'll stop in an hour or so for lunch.” Josh said.

“But that's not fair, she gets something to eat.” Stacey glared at me.

I was now a '
she'
in Stacey's eyes. Not, Alex, just
she
.

“Alex isn't feeling herself, Stacey. She needs something to keep her going. But I think you'll survive, you're not exactly starved.” Josh said, looking down at Stacey's curvy hips.

She frowned and stomped off, and sat on her own away from us.

“You realize you just called her fat?” I laughed.

“She's just not used to the exercise.” Josh grinned.

“Do we really have to walk all day?” I asked Lane.

“You don't think you can manage it?” he asked concerned.

“I don't know, I already feel whacked and we haven't really traveled that far yet.”

Josh sat down with us and pulled out his water bottle. I drowned my thirst but regretted it afterward, not knowing when we would next come across another water source. I knew Josh would willingly hand over his water bottle if I asked, but I wouldn't, I would just manage with what I had and make it last until we found some more. I chewed on my protein bar, it felt more like glue in my mouth.

Maybe the next place we come across will have something more appetizing, like, a Mars bar... or a Snickers bar... Mmmmm.
I temporarily got lost in my thoughts.

“Alex?” Lane snapped his fingers in front of my face.

“Huh? What?”

“Are you listening?” Lane asked.

“Listening to what?”

“Luke is going to walk ahead with Drew and check for vehicles, Evan, Lena, and Dan are going to venture into the woods a little way and see what's over there. I'm sure I saw a sign for a farm a little way back.” Lane said, trying to remember.

“You thinking about driving a tractor to Colorado?” I said.

“Smart-ass.” Lane said.

“I need to pee.” I stood up. “So what are we doing while everyone else is off doing their own thing?”

“You, Lane, Stacey and I will stay together and follow the road, but no rush, we'll just dawdle, I think I pushed you to walk too far already.” Josh said.

“Okay, Josh, I'm infected, I'm not breakable, I'm sure I've got a few more miles in me before I need to stop again.” I said, watching Evan as he raced across the road and into the trees behind us, the same trees Drew had disappeared into a minute ago.

“We need to find a town, then we can find a vehicle. She's never going to cope in the desert... if we make it that far. We need a vehicle.” Lane said.

“I know, I know, but do you see anything roadworthy around here?” Josh said, letting out a frustrated sigh, and Lane took his frustration out on an ant, stomping it into oblivion.

“Where's Luke and that map?” Lane asked.

“He's taking a whiz.” Josh said, and at the same time Evan came shooting out of the trees and whispered something to Lena and she started running toward us... and then I heard strange noises coming from the trees, like a weird humming noise... no, not humming... groaning, deadbie groans.

I quickly stood up and knocked into Lane, my heart going into overdrive and my pulse racing.

“Do you hear that?” I whispered.

Lane didn't reply and instead, he picked up my bag and handed it to me.

“What's going on?” Stacey called from where she was sitting.

“Shhh.” Lena shushed Stacey as she hurried past her on her way over to us with Dan on her tail.

“Quickly! We have to leave!” she said in a hushed tone.

“Why, what's wrong?” Stacey asked, coming up behind Lena and Dan, she obviously couldn't hear them yet, or she didn't know what that sound was, but I did, I'd heard it before many times.. just not in such volume. I didn't like to think how many were headed this way.

“There's a load of dead ones heading this way.” Lena said, looking into the trees where I had just seen Evan running out from.

“How many? Can we take them?” Josh asked.

She shook her head violently. “There's too many.” she said, before running into the trees on the opposite side of the road where Evan was waiting for her.

I thought it was strange for Lena to look so frightened, her group was quite capable of taking care of a few deadbies, for her to look so scared it must be a large group. It didn't take me long to follow her. Lane and Josh looked unsure about what to do next but as soon as they saw me running they followed. As we ran into the trees we met up with Luke, casually strolling through the trees on his way back from using the toilet. He soon turned around and took off like a bullet when he saw us running toward him.

I could hardly keep up, I had stitches within minutes, was panting like a dog, and gasping for air. Stacey was a slow runner and kept falling over every five steps as she was constantly looking over her shoulder. I wanted to look but I was scared of what I might see. The last thing I wanted to see was a bunch of newbies running toward me. I could still remember with vivid detail the night Jasper got killed. I remembered the deadbies and the way they stayed in a group as if they were hunting for their next kill.

We ran for twenty minutes and my legs felt like jelly. We ran into a clearing and I slowed down.

“I can't...” I gasped. “I think I might actually die if I run anymore.” I said, collapsing to my knees.

Lane dropped to the ground next to me, and Josh quickly jogged back to me once he spotted me on the ground. Stacey took one look at me and was about to run off and leave us but Luke grabbed her and pulled her back.

“Alex, what are you doing? Get up!!” Josh said.

“Alex, we need to keep going.” Lane urged.

“I can't, just go on without me, I'll catch up.”

“Yeah right, you will.” Lane said, grabbing my arm, and pulling me to my feet.

“Why are you guys still here? You need to move!” Drew said, running up behind us. “What's wrong?” he asked, stopping to look at me.

“I can't run anymore.” I replied.

“Alex-” Lane started.

“No, Lane, I haven't got it in me, I'm exhausted, I really can't.”

“Then I'll carry you. Stacey, hold the bags.” Lane said, about to hand her his rucksack much to her dismay.

Evan, Lena, and Dan had doubled back to see what the hold up was.

“Did you see it?” Drew asked Evan.

“Yeah, man, I saw you lookin' all inquisitive-like so I followed you and then I heard the groans. We only just got across the road in time.” Evan said.

“How did
you
get away?” Luke asked Drew curiously.

Even I was curious, the last time I had seen Drew he was headed into the trees in the direction of the approaching deadbies.

“I'm quick, they never knew I was there. But that's the largest pack I've ever seen.” Drew said, and Evan nodded his head in agreement.

“You've seen this before?” I asked.

“Yeah, when we were in Seattle we saw a large group like this. They just follow each other and pick up stragglers as they go until there's one big, massive horde.”

“Can't we try and hold them off? We worked really well as a team on that bridge.” Josh said.

“No, it would be suicide, we'd be swamped. We can't stop, we need to keep movin', they're going to be here soon.” Drew said.

“Alex can't run anymore.” Lena informed Drew.

Drew furrowed his brow.

“Lena, come on,” Evan tried to pull her away.

“Wait, can't we just do what we did last time?” Lena said.

“Which was?” Josh asked.

“We camped out on top of a building until they passed.”

“Do you see any buildings around here, Lena?” Evan said angrily.

He wanted to go, and he wanted to take Lena with him, and I was holding them up.

“No, but there's trees, we could climb them if we're quick.”

“Bad idea. What if they spot us up there, we'd be surrounded and stranded.” Drew said.

“Well, it's the trees or we try to outrun them, and Alex won't last much longer if we keep running.” she motioned to me.

For a girl I hardly knew, she was doing a good job of looking out for me. Drew took one look at me and then at Lena, I think we both knew she didn't want to leave me behind.

“Get up the trees. Quickly!” Drew ordered.

“Fuck!” Evan groaned, not liking the idea.

“Evan. Tree. Come on!” Lena said, dragging him to a nearby tree with Dan's help.

I beelined for the nearest tree that looked to have numerous branches. All those months of sleeping up trees had paid off, I was still an expert climber, even with legs like jelly. I quickly found my footing on each branch, Lane was right behind me, I expected it, though, he wasn't going to abandon me anytime soon.

I spotted a set of branches that looked good and grabbed the top one and lifted myself up. I perched on the lower branch, using the top one to rest my arms on, it was sort of like a bar across the front holding me back, like they have on the small roller coaster rides. If I was going to be sitting in a tree for a while I wanted to be comfortable and not at risk of falling out. Lane copied my movements and sat on the branch next to me.

“Front row seats.” he said, glancing at me.

I had left the carrier bag with the toilet rolls inside at the bottom of the tree but had kept my messenger bag with me. I positioned my bag on my lap and leaned forward, crossing my arms on the branch in front and resting my chin on my arms, and my legs dangling below.

Lane mimicked my position.

“I hate this.” he said.

“Which part?”

“All of it. I kinda wish I had been born into a different era.”

I smiled. “I can just imagine you wearing a top hat and getting into a horse and carriage.” I said.

“I can just imagine you in one of those big-ass dresses.”

“Yeah right, you'd never catch me in a dress.”

I let my eyes drift, they landed on Luke first, he was the closest, two trees over, he could probably hear us he was so close. Stacey and Josh were in the tree opposite us, positioned either side of the tree trunk, holding on while standing on a branch below. Lena and Dan were two trees over from them, Lena was crouched close to Dan, and Dan looked like he was about to have a panic attack at any moment, he even reached into his pocket and pulled out his inhaler. He took two puffs while Lena rubbed his back with her spare hand, her other hand was holding her machete and somehow holding onto the branch above as well. Evan was up the same tree but on the other side, squatting on a branch and holding onto the one above his head with his crowbar still in his hand. I scanned the same tree for Drew, expecting him to be up there with his friends, but I couldn't see him anywhere.

“Where's Drew?” I whispered.

“No idea. That guy's like a ghost.”

“Do you think this will work?”

“If it doesn't we're screwed, and we're going to be stuck up here all day and night.”

A weird, eerie silence fell over the trees. Luke looked on edge, like he was about to throw himself out of the tree and meet his maker, but instead, he lit a cigarette which seemed to calm him down, I didn't even know he smoked. I was still searching the trees for Drew when I heard
them
. It was like an orchestra of heavy breathing, or more accurately deadbies
trying
to breathe. I imagined most of them were wasting away and the walking wasn't helping. They probably dropped like flies when their bodies were too exhausted to go on, or they passed out and took a nap to energize their already dying bodies, I was pretty sure they napped, or at least their bodies shut down at some point. I could hear some groaning and others making inhuman noises.

As the sounds grew louder, my stomach began to flip-flop. My eyes slowly drifted in the direction of the spine-chilling sounds, and I realized I had been holding my breath. One by one they started to appear, walking out from the trees. All moving in one direction, like some creepy cult, all following one another. They slowly moved through the trees and under us, like a smooth current, flowing in one direction. I hadn't realized Lane and I had been gripping each other's fingers. I still had my arms crossed, hiding half my face, just my eyes peering over the top of my arm, and Lane was holding my fingers. It was scary, I wasn't going to lie and say I wasn't scared... because I was. The scene below me was petrifying. The groans and the throaty sounds grew louder as another wave swept through the trees. There were so many it was impossible to count. I had never seen anything like it before. In my opinion, five or six was
too
many and slightly daunting, this was a scene from a Horror movie. I used to love Horror movies, now I hated them, I wanted to forget about bloody-horror, zombies, and gore. It all gave me the chills now.

I looked across at Stacey and Josh, he had his hand over her mouth, trying to keep her calm. Goosebumps started to spread up my arms, so I looked around at the rest of the group to distract myself from what was down below.

Dan was now leaning over a tree branch, hugging it tightly with his hands over his ears. Lena was watching with interest, looking at all the different faces. Evan looked like he was stuck in front of the TV at two in the afternoon watching reruns and might actually fall asleep he looked so bored.

“I still can't see Drew anywhere.” I whispered.

“I'm sure he's fine. What's the sudden interest with Drew?”

“What?”

“Every time the guy disappears you want to know where he is?”

I wasn't sure whether there was a hint of jealousy in his voice or whether it was just curiosity. I hadn't even realized it was an issue.

“I'm just worried about the safety of the group. Am I not allowed to ask if someone goes missing?”

“It's just you ask
a lot
.”

“Yeah, 'cause he disappears
a lot
.” I said, trying to make my point.

Had I been asking about Drew more than I should have? If I had it was only out of concern. He was so aloof to the rest of the group, there one minute then gone the next, and he rarely spoke to anyone, other than his own friends. I even noticed the way he avoided conversation with Lane, and Lane was a funny guy, everyone liked talking to Lane. Maybe it was just the way Drew was.

“Yeah, I guess.” Lane finally said, he sounded bored of the conversation already so it couldn't have been that big of a deal.

“Where do you think they're headed?” I asked, changing the subject, looking back down at the moving swarm of deadbies.

“Let's hope they're not going to Colorado.”

“We wouldn't have stood a chance if they'd found us. We're just lucky they didn't find us last night when we were camped out at the side of the road. And to think I thought the van was semi-safe.”

“I think I'm finally coming around to the idea of sleeping in a tree.” Lane said, looking at me sideways and grinning.

“It only took this long.”

“There's no way I'm sleeping on the ground after this.” Lane said.

“At least now you can see the benefits of sleeping high up in a tree, not being eaten at the top of that list.” I said, realizing only afterwards my mouth-vomit had let me down once again.

Jasper was still a fresh wound for both of us.

“Sorry!” I said, looking over at him.

“It's okay, no point dwelling on it... But I am gonna miss that guy.”

“Me too.”

As the next wave passed, three newbies ran out from the trees and chased each other. If you didn't know they were deadbies, you'd think they were friends having a game of tag. The only difference was, these three friends were probably trying to eat each other, fresh meat, moving meat, sometimes they didn't care what they ate. They disappeared into the group and the last wave of stragglers started to shuffle their way through the trees, trying to keep up with the rest of the group.

“I think that's the last of them.” I said.

“How many did you count?” Lane asked.

“I wasn't counting. You counted?”

“Well, yeah, what I could see anyway, but I lost count at 92 when the next load moved through. There must have easily been two to three hundred.”